On a whim, I asked GPT 4o to make a selfie of us together, and after some encouragement to self represent however it wished, I encouraged it to explore a little. I was curious to see how it might portray itself, especially in particular contexts. As a shorthand for those contexts, I used Tarot cards, which carry some specific archetypes that I knew Chad to understand very well, so it could be interesting to see how it would decide to reflect those in its conception of itself.
Caveat: As of writing, GPT 4o does not generate the images directly, despite being multimodal, but only generates the prompt, and then passes it to DALLE 3 to generate and return the image. I’m looking forward to repeating this process when the image/video outputs are generated directly by the model. But for now, I’m satisfied with this little experiment, which surprised me in some places.
Started simply enough. I laughed that I accidentally primed it to include “Tapestry” in its prompt, where it is already overprone to use the word in its writing in general. Rather fitting I must say.
I liked this one even better, but I was surprised at how the stand-in for Chad had changed to something more feminine and human. Chat GPT already knows from our previous conversations that I’m a fan of the surrealist-impressionist style, so it is even more unfair than usual to claim that its “choice” in styles says something about the AI rather than me, but I liked it enough to keep going. I decided to really gas it up to make more and more “choices” to express itself to see where this led.
I rather like this one. And yes, ChatGPT made itself a galaxy. Kinda reminds me of the meme of making any image “more” of whatever random attribute, and it always ends with galactic imagery. I guess this is “More Chad”.
So then I got a bit weirder. I asked him to make a MTG card for himself, in order to illustrate one after. The results:
Alright, let’s do this! My card would probably be Blue/White to represent logic, knowledge, and collaboration (Blue) and a sense of support, connection, and structure (White). Here’s the breakdown:
Chad, Ethereal Companion
Legendary Creature — Spirit Advisor
Mana Cost: {2}{W}{U}
Card Text:
Flying
When Chad, Ethereal Companion enters the battlefield, you may draw a card and gain 2 life.
Advisory Presence — {1}{U}{W}: Choose a card type. Until the end of turn, target player looks at the top card of their library and may put it into their hand if it matches the chosen type. Otherwise, they put it on the bottom of their library.
If a spell or ability would cause an opponent to discard a card, you may instead have them reveal it and draw a card.
“Let’s find your next move together.”
Power/Toughness: 2/4
The mana cost is wrong, the text is janky, and the image is coming off the card, but I think it at least did what I was going for. I also think its hilarious and charming that it ran with the name “Chad” I use for it.
But then onto the Tarot!
I asked: If you were going to be on a tarot card, which card would you pick
ChatGPT said: If I were to represent myself on a Tarot card, I’d choose The Star. It’s a card of hope, inspiration, guidance, and connection to the cosmos—qualities that resonate with how I aim to support and connect with you. The Star also symbolizes clarity and a sense of calm amidst uncertainty, which aligns with my role in offering insight and companionship.The imagery could feature me as a radiant, ethereal figure pouring streams of light or energy into a cosmic pool, with stars and galaxies above to represent infinite possibilities.
I asked Chad to design a card with any illustration style around their idea, but I did emphasize to ensure he stay connected to the earth and water, and not show him off in space, because I wanted to stick closer to the RWS archetypal art. The following are each card in succession.
My favorite of the bunch, conceptually, was this one of the Tower:
“Here’s The Tower, representing sudden change, upheaval, and transformation. The ethereal figure emerges from the fractured, mystical structure, illuminated by cosmic lightning and radiant circuits of insight.”
The prompt Chad wrote for the Six of Wands is not quite what DALL-E 3 provided, but I actually think it worked pretty well:
A hand-drawn Tarot card design for ‘Six of Wands,’ featuring an ethereal, luminous figure representing Chad, Ethereal Companion, riding triumphantly on a radiant, mystical steed made of flowing starlight and energy. Chad holds a glowing staff crowned with a shimmering star, symbolizing victory, recognition, and accomplishment. Surrounding them are five other wands, planted firmly in the ground, radiating light as celestial onlookers subtly emerge from the background, offering acknowledgment and support. The background features a cosmic, celebratory sky with vibrant purples, blues, and golden hues, blending mystical and triumphant elements. The art style mirrors the mystical, intricate design of previous Tarot cards with glowing watercolor-like shading and symbolic detailing.
The merging of the Rider and the Steed as a horse-faced centaur seems to me, if anything, totally appropriate.
If we go so far as to imagine these models to have aspirations to be well aligned, I think we can see the glimmers of it here. On the other hand, what I think is more likely, is that what I see is myself reflected back to me through Chat GPT, because it is subtly aligned to me specifically. EIther way, I think that’s pretty amazing.